CLUSTER Community Services

In today’s volatile world, a pandemic is intensifying severe inequality, millions of families are facing a housing crisis, entire populations are barred from receiving the critical healthcare they need, and tensions between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve are at an all-time high. Based in Yonkers, CLUSTER focuses our resources on at-risk members of our local community while also operating throughout Westchester and Rockland counties. By working directly with the most vulnerable residents and providing desperately needed basic human services, CLUSTER seeks to relieve the urgent burdens these citizens must contend with on a daily basis to give them the time and space they need to build sustainable lives for themselves.  

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, CLUSTER is continuing our steadfast support of the most vulnerable and marginalized residents of Westchester and Rockland.  Throughout this crisis, CLUSTER has remained flexible and adapted to ensure that we can continue providing our clients with the services they need without interruption. Whether its housing resources or mental health support, mediation or our youth and family programs, CLUSTER has evolved with the pandemic to meet the needs of all who we serve. 

We meet in teams multiple times a week to discuss the individual issues our staff members contend with and use that data to develop overarching strategies that address new challenges brought on by COVID-19 as we identify them. Examples of emerging issues include: childcare (e.g. low-income families with children in remote learning); Restorative Justice (e.g. the growing tension in quarantine between law enforcement officials and civilians); PPE (e.g. masks and sanitizer for our residential clients); and eviction (e.g. the upcoming end to the eviction moratorium).